Episode 222: Bloodlines and the Draft/Giving Up in Extras/Managers Telling the Truth/Moore, Molina, and Calling Pitches
Date June 12, 2013 Summary Ben and Sam answer listener emails about baseball bloodlines, managers revealing too much, giving up in extras, calling games, and more. Topics * Managers revealing too much * Giving up in extra innings * Game calling responsibility and strategy Intro Mitt Romney speech sound clip Banter Follow-up on baseball bloodlines from Episode 221. Email Questions * Steven: "Less than 3 hours after the Yankee game ended, Girardi announced that neither Mariano Rivera nor David Robertson are available tomorrow. While I find this helpful from a fantasy perspective, I can't for the life of me figure out the added value of telling an opponent what pitcher is and is not available for the next day's game. Why say anything?" * Joe: "With the two extra inning marathon games this past weekend between Texas & Toronto and the Mets & the Marlins, does a team ever consider giving up for the sake of the health and exhaustion of their players? I know this question may seem crazy, but I was thinking than an early season game that extends too long could negatively impact a team for the next series whether they win or lose. At what point would you consider this? 14th inning, 15th inning? I know sometimes position players are put in to pitch and I think that is an example of just giving up. Exhaustion leads to injury." * George: "The following appeared June 10th in the Tampa Tribune's game story on the Rays loss to the Orioles the day before: 'Moore checked the video of the hits he allowed between innings and noticed that he was throwing the type of pitches deep in the count that he should have thrown on the first pitch. Or he was throwing fastballs when he had two strikes and the hitter was trying to protect the plate rather than making him chase an off-speed or breaking pitch outside the zone. "They did a very good job of making me pay for those mistakes, especially late in the count," Moore said. "Those are when your pitches are supposed to be good, especially when I'm ahead in the count." Moore allowed six of his 12 hits after getting two strikes on the batter. Six of those 12 hits came off change-ups and three off curveballs.' How much of this is the responsibility of the catcher, especially an experienced one like Jose Molina who is in that game? I know the pitcher has the ultimate call on what he throws, but how is it possible for this to go on again and again and the catcher and the pitching coach not step up, especially with a young pitcher?" Notes * Sam says he would pick Grady Sizemore's son. * Ben, on hockey injury reports: "...they'll say that a guy has an upper body injury and you don't know if he has been decapitated or has a bruise on his shoulder." * What would a team do if their backup catcher was injured in an extra inning game? Links * Effectively Wild Episode 222: Bloodlines and the Draft/Giving Up in Extras/Managers Telling the Truth/Moore, Molina, and Calling Pitches * Oriole hammer Moore, Rays to avoid sweep by Roger Mooney Category:Episodes Category:Email Episodes